RWBY A Machine for Monsters
by Inuhoono
Summary: Team RWBY and Team JNPR find themselves in a new and very strange world after a hunt. Despite their superior weaponry and technology, will they be able to survive? Or will they no longer be able to tell the people from the pigs?
1. Prologue

"Cold-hearted orb, that rules the night,

Removes the colours from out sight,

Red is Grey and Yellow White,

But we decide which is right,

And which is an illusion.

Moody Blues, _Nights in White Satin_

The curtains rose with a slight sigh as the string was pulled, blinding Weiss with the scarlet light of the dawning day. The heiress grunted in her sleep before her eyes very slowly opened. Yawning and stretching her arms out as her body soon regained its normal functions, she looked up to three pairs of differently coloured eyes stare down at her; one of silver, one of amber and one of lavender. Weiss immediately knew what was going to happen before it did, however her still resting form could not react until her teammates, fully clothed in combat gear, jumped on her.

"I call the feet!" Yang shouted as she ripped the blankets off and grabbed a foot.

"No fair!" her sister yelled back with a laugh, then lifted Weiss' upper body up with hands under her arms, "in that case I get the armpits!"

"Then it seems that I get the dubious honour of holding our dear heiress down," Blake replied smoothly, just barely able to keep her amusement down as she gracelessly sat on Weiss.

"Wh-what…this is…s-stop!" Weiss shouted in-between her laughter as the tickle torture began, struggling with all of her might but to no avail. "This…is not…how…you treat…your…team…mate…STOP IT!"

"Sorry Weiss, but orders from our leader! This is your punishment for sleeping in all the time!" Yang answered with a wide grin as her fingers danced a crossed the sensitive soles of the girl in white's feet.

"Yeah! Especially when you know that we have a field trip today," Ruby confirmed as mercilessly attacked Weiss' armpits.

"Ruby, it's an assignment, not a field trip," Blake corrected though with a wide smile on her face.

"Same thing!" Ruby laughed.

"A-alright!" Weiss shouted, still laughing non-stop, "I get it, I get it! I've learned… my lesson… now please…stop…can't…breath!"

"What do you think, Ruby?" the cat faunus asked.

"I think she got the message," Ruby answered as she let go.

"Aww, but I was just having fun!" Yang replied with a pout but also let, moving to the side of the heiress' bed at the same time as her other two compatriots.

For a few moments Weiss could only lay there, panting hard as she regained her breath. Once she had enough air in her body, she sat up on the bed and glared hatefully at her supposed teammates.

"You know, I'm starting to miss the whistle…" the girl clad in white commented.

"Yeah, I realized that wasn't really doing the trick, so I figured we'd try this!" Ruby replied proudly, smiling wide and placing her hands on her hips to emphasis the fact.

"So you better get moving!" Yang concurred. "It's time for you to get up and get dressed!"

"But we still have a couple hours before we have to report…" Weiss began to argue but seeing the devious smiles on all three of her teammates, the heiress made no other complaint and jumped out of bed.

-/-/- -/-/- -/-/-

Ruby skipped along the path that leads to the Emerald Forest, her steps light in excitement the coming day. This would be their first assignment where they would be specifically fighting monsters! Nothing like collecting pieces of something, or gathering sap or some other fairly inconsequential thing that just happens to involve the creatures of Grimm, as everything out side of the city did, but actually _hunting_ them! It was almost too good to be true.

The red-hooded girl's team was also excited, including Weiss though she continued to feign anger over what happened that morning. This would be a real chance for her to put everything she had been practicing to the test and continue to perfect her technique; just one more step in truly inheriting the Schnee Dust Company in her eyes. For Blake it would help in her quest for redemption after all that she did in and for the White Fang. Though it wouldn't be enough, it never would be, it was at least a start. For Yang it would give her the perfect opportunity to let out some steam and really cut loose. Not of this holding back during sparing, aura or no aura, here she would be able to let it all out!

"Hey! Wait up guys!" A very familiar voice called out and RWBY turned collectively to see Jaune running towards them, a smile on his face, with his own team not far behind.

"Hey there yourself, took you guys long enough," Yang said with a smirk.

"We're not that much later than you!" Jaune grunted as he caught up, "actually we saw you guys go down the hall when we left out room."

"Yeah! We thought that _you_ guys would be the one who were late," Nora chimed as she marched towards everyone, the other two members of JNPR joining at the same time.

"Indeed, you caused quiet the ruckus," Pyrrha pointed out with a smile, "woke us and I'm sure a couple other rooms up as well."

"Ooh! I know what happened," Nora declared, "a Nevermore flew into your room! And then it got into Yang's hair and then she was all like "RAWR!" and then there was fire which Weiss had to put out and Ruby tried to catch it but missed and her rose petals-thingies caused Blake to sneeze while Yang was throwing books at the Nevermore and-"

"Nora," Ren said while everyone else could only stare at the hammer wielder.

"Yes Ren?" Nora asked, immediately stopping her tangent.

"I doubt that's what happened," the monk pointed out.

"Well…it could have!" Nora said, only slightly deterred, "And this is was more exciting!"

"Yeah…we didn't really do anything quiet that elaborate," Yang said with an uneasy laugh, rubbing the back of her head.

"We were just teaching our esteemed heiress the consequences of not getting up on time," Blake answered.

"But your story was…kind of cool," Ruby said, trying to compliment the Valkyrie.

"Really!?" Nora asked, her eyes lighting up. "Because I was thinking that one of the books hit you and then-"

"I think we should be going, before Goodwitch starts to notice we're not there," Pyrrha interrupted quickly.

"Oh, do we have to?" Jaune asked, already dreading the coming day.

"Now Jaune, you know that's not how a lead should act," Ruby said, her face turning dead serious as she stomped over to the knight and began to poke his head, saying with each thrust; "We. Need. To. Set. An. Example!"

"Ow! That hurts!" Jaune complained after the assault and rubbed his forehead.

"Don't worry Jaune, just remember our training and know that your team is behind you," Pyrrha said as she rested her right hand on his left shoulder and smile encouragingly.

"Yeah…I know your right but still," Jaune said with a sigh.

"Um, hate to break the kumbaya," Weiss interrupted, "but if we don't hurry than we ALL are going to be late for this assignment. Honestly, for how early you guys get up-"

"Gah! She's right! We better get going," Ruby shouted and immediately began to run to the forest.

Weiss just sighed as she turned followed after her partner, everyone else doing the same. It only took them a couple minutes to reach the gates that lead into the Emerald Forest. Many other teams were already gathered, with Goodwitch standing at the front with her arms behind her back as usual. She simply watched RWBY and JNPR and a few other straggling teams before nodding to herself.

"Now that we're all here, I will make haste with giving you your assignment," the Huntress said, "for reasons we have yet to determined, the number of Grimm has greatly increased as of late. While thankfully none have gathered en-mass to attack any populated area we as hunters and huntresses must see that this never happens. As such Beacon has made this their top priority, using students from all years to make sure that this threat is dealt with as quickly as possible. As such, the creatures of Grimm in this area should be more than suite to your level of combat experience."

"Wait, so we get the weakest Grimm!?" Cardin asked, obviously put out by this announcement even if he couldn't be seen by either teams at the moment.

"Yes, you do," Goodwitch answered without any sugarcoating, "and I think after your encounter with the Ursa-Major, Mr. Winchester, you would happy for this change."

Jaune couldn't help the wide grin that spread across his face. Oh how he wished he could see the look on Cardin's face right now and hear his grumbling!

"To aid you in this task," Goodwitch continued, "we will be giving everyone ear-pieces so that you may more easily communicate on the battlefield." A nod caused two older students holding boxes to walk out and begin to hand out the sets. As Ruby got her's she felt the very light weight of the piece; made of clear plastic that looped around the lob and a head phone that went into the ear itself.

"Make sure that all of your pieces are set to the same frequency as your teammates," the Huntress added as the lasted of the ear-sets were handed out, "I also wish for you to know that your Professors will also be fighting alongside you, though we may not be there to help so please remember everything you have learned so far. Good day and good luck."

As Goodwitch entered the forest, flanked by her two assistants, team RWBY and JNPR looked at each other.

"Sounds pretty…well, grim, doesn't it?" Yang said.

"If Goodwitch thinks that we can handle it, I'm sure we can," Weiss pointed out.

"Yes, but we might get optimal results if we work together," Ren said.

"Yay! Teamwork!" Nora shouted excitedly.

"N-no complaints from me," Jaune said with a very uneasy laugh.

"What do you think, Ruby?" Pyrrha asked.

The red clad girl shrugged. "Sounds good to me," she said and then smiled, "we should also set our frequencies the same as well!"

"Of course!" Jaune said, his uneasiness departing somewhat at the thought of doing this with friends.

After playing around with the very small buttons on the ear piece so that they were all the same, both teams departed into the forest, assured of their safety with the quality and quantity of their company.

-/-/- -/-/- -/-/-

"Well, that's the last of them from our end," Ruby announced as she severed the head of the last Beowolf with a recoiling slash. Weiss stuck Myrtenaster into the ground beside the one she defeated, and many, many others that surrounded them, as she bent over panting. The red hooded girl sent her partner an encouraging smile before pressing the button on her piece. "How are you holding up Yang?"

"Um… Yang can't really answer you right now…" came the voice of Blake and just then Ruby winced in pain as she heard her sister.

"YOU BASTARDS ARE ALL GOING TO PAY!" The fiery blonde shouted as she emptied a few rounds of Ember Celica.

Ruby just sighed. "How much did they take off this time?" she had to ask.

"Well it seems that one, maybe more, of Ursa had the audacity to cut of _three_ strains of her hair…" Blake explained with a deep sigh.

A smile came to Ruby's lips. "Well, I have to say that I feel sorry of them, even if they are Grimm," she said, then winced after yet another shout, "and my ears…"

"At least you don't have four of them…" Blake muttered.

"Um…don't know exactly what that means," the voice of Jaune interrupted, causing Ruby and, she was sure, Blake to jump, "but, we kind of have a situation here! We've got three King Taijakes…Taijerks…three of the really, really big, two headed snake things! We've been able to hold our own and we should be able to take one down, but we could use the cover and help for taking down the others!"

"Right," Ruby said as she sheathed Crescent Rose, "send your coordinates out and we'll be right there!"

"Done!" Jaune declared, "Now please hurry!"

Just as his line went dead, Ruby heard a beeping sound from her scroll and quickly opened it. She saw that they were near the cliffs and asked Blake, "Did he send you the coordinates as well?"

"Yeah, he did," Blake responded, and then added, "do you think he…?"

"Blake, even if he did, that's not what we should be concern about right now," Ruby ordered, "calm Yang down as best you can and head over to the location as quickly as you two are able!"

"Roger," Blake said before her own line went down.

"JNPR's in trouble I take it," Weiss said as she walked over to her partner.

"Yeah, try to keep up!" Was all Ruby said before she suddenly disappeared in a burst of rose petals and then reappeared some meters into the bush.

"How am I supposed to do that when you keep disappearing!?" Weiss shouted as she summoned a speed up glyph and chased after her leader. However she realized that Ruby left a trail of rose petals that led to wherever she was going to appear next, so following her wasn't quite as hard as the heiress had feared.

It only took moments for the two to appear on the scene, just in time to watch Nora shot one of her grenades and Pyrrha taking control of the projectile with her semblance and throw it into the gaping maw of a black head King Taijitu as Ren jumped out of the way; having been holding said maw open. The grenade went into the mouth and the head promptly exploded in a hail of blood, bones, slime and pink dust. Both girls saw that while two head were now down, four still remained…

"Well this is just perfect…" Weiss muttered.

"When is it ever, Princess?" Ruby asked as she took in the situation.

It seemed that, at least for the moment, each member of JNPR had assigned themselves a head to deal with. Nora swung Magnhild away in time to bash a white head away from her; Ren kicked a black head into the air and then unloaded a couple clips into its chin, Pyrrha was able to stab her spear into one of the other white head's nostrils before having to jump back from a lung and summon Milo back to her with a 'whoosh' and Jaune had raised his shield up just in time to block a head bash from the other black head.

"Whoa, I can't believe they've lasted this long!" Yang said as she and Blake finally reached their teammates.

"Yeah, but they need our help…" Ruby said, and then suddenly got an idea. "Weiss, do you think that you can freeze the necks?"

"Of course I can you dunce!" Weiss huffed, offended. "Though why the necks and not the heads?"

"Well, it would be good for you to get as close to the heads as possible," Ruby continued, "but if we really want to beat these thing it would be best to cut off their heads while they're not moving, right?"

"I get it," Yang said with a grin as she reloaded her gauntlets, "my sister's so clever!"

"Yes, yes, we all know how wonderful she is," Weiss muttered, "but it is a good plan."

"Right! So, Blake, Yang, you pick a head and help them beat it to the ground. I'll be running around helping the other two while Weiss waits for a head to get down low enough and then freeze it there! You guys then have to cut it off or bash it in or whatever you can do before it breaks out."

"As if anything breaks out of my ice," Weiss declared before she launched the entire team forward with a glyph.

Yang literally jumped into the fray, shooting out a fire covered blast at Jaune's black head to knock it away from the other blonde. The knight looked to the fire user and nodded his thanks as he stabbed his sword into the body of the snake. Blake shot herself forward half a meter with her shadows to reach Ren in time and stick Gambol Shroud into the left eye of his own black head. Seeing that Pyrrha was doing a good enough dodging and counter attacking that the hoplite could probably handle herself for now, Ruby shot herself over to Nora and also began a flurry of blows against the main body of the King Taijitu they were fighting.

It didn't take long for Blake to trick the black head she and Ren were fighting with a well-placed shadow making it slam its own head into the ground. Almost right away there was blast of blue dust and the head found that it couldn't move anymore. Ren then stabbed both of the blades from Storm flower into the head of the King Taijitu and inserted his aura into the black head, causing the brain to fry and turn to mush, making the block portion of the snake go limp. Meanwhile, Pyrrha rolled to the side to avoid the first lunge of the white head, her body colliding a bit with its body. The head tried to go at the hoplite once more, its mouth open wide but Pyrrha jumped up high and avoided the bite, and instead the snake sunk its fangs into its own body. Some more blue dust came to lock the white head into this awkward position as Pyrrha threw Milo straight through the beast's head, coming out covered in blood and brain bits as it came back to the hoplite that was very quick to clean it.

Nodding at the support she was giving, Weiss surveyed the reaming white and black heads. Pyrrha had been very quick to run over to Jaune and Yang, stabbing her spear through a bit of its flesh, while Ren ran over to help Nora and Ruby and Blake moved to help her own partner. Knowing that it would only be a matter of moments before the battle was over, Weiss staid at her vantage point slightly above her comrades in a tree. The heiress say Jaune and his group slam the head into the ground but just as Weiss was about to send another volley of ice dust, she looked over at Ruby's group and saw that Nora once again bashed the head away from her with some dust adding power to it…but that just made the head go straight for red hooded girl. Without thinking, Weiss made a motion with her hand and a large glyph appeared that stopped the head and held it there. Ruby looked over to where the girl in white was and frowned before the three quickly converged and Ruby herself was able turn Crescent Rose into more of a pike and slice the head clean off. The three then made their way over to the last head, which was now back up.

Weiss just sighed as she jumped from the tree and skated over to the group. Though, as she expected, all it took was a combined beating from Yang and Nora to slam the head down and Jaune and Ruby to slice at the same time to defeat the last head. As the heiress reached the group, Yang looked to her and smiled slightly.

"Hey, thanks for the bit of the extra challenge, but that wasn't quite part of the plan," the blonde said.

"Yeah, I mean thanks for saving me…again, and helping everyone out," Ruby said, as she rubbed the back of her head, "but next time…could you please follow…you know…what I say?"

"Sure…" was all Weiss said as she looked to the ground.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Pyrrha said; "Well, thank you, Weiss, and everyone else for the help. I don't think could have lasted for much longer the way things were going..."

"S-sure!" Ruby said a smile coming back to her face. "All in a day's work for team RWBY!"

"But's its strange," Blake said, ignoring her leader's optimism, "I didn't think that King Taijitus fought like this, usually they're more solitary."

"That's true," Ren said, "and they didn't appear until we reached the cave…none of us even sensed them until then."

"Wait, what cave?" Yang asked.

"That one!" Nora called out as she was already on top of one of the King Taijitu's corpse and pointed dramatically.

Both teams looked at each other before they also climbed the body. Once they reached the top, they looked down to see a strange cave at the base of the cliff. Strange in that it did not look naturally made. In fact, it didn't even look man made, with the arch looking as if it was…too perfect. The ratio was made everything seemed natural and there were absolutely no edges or rough stops or chips. Yet there also were no paintings or drawings on the arch itself or beside it; as if someone had set out to make the perfect arch in measurements and only in measurements.

"…I'm kind of getting a weird vibe from that thing," Weiss commented.

"Yeah, we did too," Jaune admitted, "and then those snakes appeared…as if they were guarding something that was inside…"

"Think we should check it out?" Yang asked, looking to everyone.

"I doubt the Grimm was actually guarding anything," Ruby said with a frown, "I mean, that's not what Grimm do. However… with this vibe going on, maybe this is where all the trouble is originating from."

"R-right," Jaune said with a nod, "if there's something inside that's causing the Grimm to go haywire…than we a hunters and huntresses should do something!"

"Finally getting a spine I see," Weiss muttered.

"I'll get a torch ready!" Jaune continued, not hearing Weiss as he ran back down to grab what he needs.

"Um…you know we have fire dust…" Yang called down but felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see a smiling Pyrrha shake her head.

"He really likes making them…" the hoplite said with a chuckle.

It took about ten minutes for Jaune to get the torch done and soon both teams were making their way into the tunnel. Just like the outside, everything was perfectly smooth but with no indication that humans had made it at all. The teams walked in silence, the air seeming too heavy for conversation. No one know exactly how long they had been walking before the torch suddenly went out.

"Damn it Jaune! Did you drop it again!?" Yang shouted.

"No! I swear I didn't," Jaune quickly shouted back. "It just went out!"

"Well light it up again!" Yang grumbled.

"Afraid of the dark?" Blake asked smoothly.

"Of course I'm not!" Yang counted and then, after reaching out a hand to make sure that it was Blake right next to her, whispered, "And your one to speak miss night vision!"

"Actually…even I can't see anything…" Blake whispered back.

Yang blinked a couple times, though it made no difference if her eyes were open her shut, and looked around, suddenly realizing that this was no ordinary darkness. It was as if it was sucking up any and all light that there possibly could be, including from themselves. However, the teams were not in the darkness for long as faint blue light appeared. Every turned to stare at it.

"What is that?" Ruby asked.

"Probably the way out," Ren surmised and saw Nora begin to walk towards it almost right away.

"I hope your right…" Jaune said as he soon followed the hammer wielder and everyone else did the same.

However, as they drew closer to the light, they soon realized that it was not an exit. Indeed, as they got near, none of them could say what exactly was causing the bright blue and white light. It seemed to just hang there…beckoning the teams closer to it. Soon, the light grew no bigger and the teenagers circled around it.

"Is…this what's causing the Grimm increase?" Jaune asked.

"I shouldn't think so," Pyrrha commented but frown, "I mean…this is light, and the creatures of Grimm are darkness. There's no way that light could create more darkness."

"Well…what should we do?" Blake asked as everyone looked at each other. That is everyone… except Nora who just continued to stare at the light.

"How about we touch it?" Nora asked and now everyone looked at her horrified; Ren even more so.

"Nora no-" the monk began to shout but was cut off as the Valkyrie touched the light which just then expanded and blinded everyone before they felt a falling sensation. None of them knew, though, if they had hit ground before their worlds once again returned to darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: Hallowed Be Thy Name

"Still I don't see a man in a mansion,

That an accurate pen won't puncture"

-Emerson, Lake and Palmer, _Hallowed Be Thy Name_

As sensation slowly returned to Ruby, she let out a low moan and very slowly opened her silver eyes. The huntress had no idea how long she had been out, though it felt as though it could have been years. However, one thing became very clear even though nothing was quite in focus yet; she was no longer in the cave. Instead she was in a…cage?

That realization caused Ruby to sit up quickly, though she immediately regretted it as her head began to swim and she lost focus once more. She did notice, though, that the floor to the cage seemed to be quite soft…and springy. After her head cleared, Ruby looked down and, sure enough, she was lying on a bed. A bed surrounded by thick metal bars and, much to her relief, a half-open cage door; but a bed none-the-less. There was very little light in room, the only sources coming from the small lamp with a green cover beside her and what she could only assume was the moon streaming through the windows. The whole thing was very foreboding and the cage Ruby found herself in was not helping matters…

"Just…where am I?" Ruby asked the air and not expecting an answer she moved towards the open cage door and crawled out. She felt behind her and sighed in relief as Crescent Rose was still hanging onto the small of her back.

Once she stood on her boots once more, Ruby had to grab onto a near-by bar to hold herself steady as vertigo set in. She groaned again and shook her head before she was able to finally walk out of the large but very strange room and old fashion room, something she couldn't do fast enough. Once she was outside the girl in the red hood, noticed that the hallway was much better lit and that she seemed to be on a balcony that was in a square. The huntress began to call out for her sister and comrades.

"Yang! Weiss! Blake!" Ruby cried as she walked down the hall, noticing just how…old fashion the entire house seemed to be. Everything about it reminded her of helping to clean out her great-great grandmother's apartment. Well…perhaps everything but the caged beds which the girl couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be more of them, causing her to walk faster around the square and call louder.

"Yang! Jaune! Pyrrha! Weiss!" Ruby continued to call, despair entering her heart when she didn't receive an answer. What if they were trapped in one of those horrible beds? What if they got attacked while they were knocked out? What if…what if they weren't even here!?

"Ruby! Down here!" The sweet voice of Yang called down from below and Ruby looked to see her sister waving down at her at the top of a flight of stairs that lead ever further down.

"Yang!" Ruby called down happily as she climb onto the railing, perching there like a bird for a second before dropping. Twisting in the air slightly so that she was able to make the three point landing without a hitch. As soon as Ruby stood up she found herself in the crushing embrace of her older sister.

"Ooh, I was so worried!" Yang said as she squeezed her sister even harder. "I was in this attic with a bunch of kid toys and I couldn't find you and-"

"Air!" Ruby was finally able to gasp as she tried to struggle out of her sister's iron grip.

"Air?" Yang asked confused before her eyes opened wide as she realized what she was doing. The blond let go quickly and Ruby had to double over to get her breath back.

"Eh…sorry about that," Yang said nervously as she rubbed the back of her head, "I was just really happy."

"I…am too," Ruby panted before she was able to stand up straight once more. "I just like the whole breathing thing, you know?"

"Yeah…breathing usually is good for you," Yang said with another nervous laugh before another voice caused them both to turn.

"Oh good, you were able to find her," Pyrrha said as she walked out of a room and smiled wide at the sight of the two.

"Hey Pyrrha, it's great to see you as well!" Ruby laughed as she hugged the hoplite. Though as she did so she also noticed how the door to the room she had just come out of was only just hanging onto its hinges.

"Um…what are you doing?" Ruby asked as she moved away from the hug and pointed to the door.

Pyrrha turned around and sighed at the sight. "Well…you see Nora-"

"Ren! Where are you Ren!?" Nora called out from inside the room before she came bounding out and jumped onto the railing. "Ren!"

"…She's been like this since Yang and I found her," Pyrrha admitted, jerking her head to the hall way that they had come from. "She's…been quite busy."

Ruby frowned in confusion before she looked down said hallways. Her eyes widen and she let out a 'whoa' as she noticed all of the busted doors; no doubt the work of Magnhild's destructive force. She hated to think of the state of the rooms…unless they all had the cage beds that she woke up in. Then Ruby hopped that they were completely destroyed.

"Did you happen to see anyone after you woke up?" Pyrrha asked after Ruby understood the situation, as Nora herself continued to call out.

"No…you three are the first I've met so far," Ruby admitted and noticed the down cast look that overcame the hoplite's face. The red hooded girl made no other comment, knowing that Pyrrha was worried about Jaune.

Yang however, noticing the look, did open her mouth to say something when a voice rose up from below them.

"Nora, calm down, I'm at the bottom of the stairs," Ren called out from below all of them.

"Ren!" Nora called, back to her usual chipper self as, instead of taking the stairs she just jumped down.

The three girls on the top of the stairs looked at each other before going over the railing and looking down to see Ren, with a very excited Nora hugging him, and Blake looking up at them.

"Hey guys, good to see you're still around," Blake greeted everyone since Ren was too busy dealing with Nora.

"It's good to see you two as well!" Yang said with a laugh as she leaned across the railing. "Is anyone else down there?"

"Um…I am…" the voice of Jaune could be heard as he walked into view, also looking up at the girls and brightening up considerably when he saw Pyrrha.

"Hey there Jaune! Where have you been?" Ruby asked with a smile, happy that the knight and the hoplite had been reunited.

"Well, we just came from a dining room and Weiss wouldn't let me try some of the roast beef that had been kept out…" Jaune admitted.

"Of course not!" the voice of heiress cried as she walked into view, pointing a finger in the knight's face and getting his attention back to her. "Do you have any idea how rude it is to eat another person's food!? Did you not see how that table was set up!? It's clear that people will probably be arriving soon!"

"But I'm hungry…" Jaune whined.

Ruby began to laugh…until she realized that she was actually kind of hungry too now. She frowned at the feeling and looked to both Yang and Pyrrha, noticing that they were also either placing a hand on or looking at their stomachs.

"Well…why don't we head down there and we can talk this all out," Ruby suggested and the other two girls nodded their head in agreement before they walked down the stairs.

Once they reached the bottom and shared some more greetings and hugs, much to Weiss' blushing complaints, they took the time to actually look more around the house. Nora noticed a strange device that was on the table and flicked a switch, causing everyone to jump as a badly recorded voice sounded from the machine.

"You don't mind if I record this, do you? I find it most useful."

"No, no, of course not…"

"Wow…this thing must be ancient," Jaune commented as the machine continued to talk. "I've only seen something even close to this at my grandma's house…though even that took way better recordings and even had video!"

Weiss just sighed as she paid more attention to the paintings that lined the walls. They were all quite well done; like the one with a fiddle player and his audience or the picture of a line of poor people seeming to wait for something or the one with the girl in a white dress crying by a lake in a forest. Even the large, strange painting of a boy with a pig's head standing by a table was done in very good taste. Though, from the sounds coming from the other room, it seemed that Ruby had found some more…interesting pictures.

"Yang, what's that swan doing to that woman?" Ruby asked as she pointed to a picture of a swan on top of a naked woman.

"Um…" the blond began, not quite sure how to think of it herself though she had an idea of what was happening. "They're…just playing around. Nothing more." She then grabbed her younger sister by the shoulders and turned her so that she was no longer looking at it. "How about we look at something else instead?"

"You mean like that picture of the woman getting ra-" Ruby began to say, but was swiftly interrupted once Yang turned her own head and realized that she had turned her sister towards an even worse picture. A swift bang was heard by everyone as Yang activated Ember Celica and a gaping hole appeared where the painting once stood, the edges still on fire.

"I'm going to kill whoever decorated this place!" Yang shouted.

"Well, looks like you have your chance," Blake commented dryly as she looked up to the stair case, everyone following her gaze as soon as they noticed it.

There was a man who looked much like Professor Port would have looked like if he had lost a hundred pounds or so. His gaping mouth of surprise seemed to be a dark hole against his brown and very bushy beard, matching with his brown hair and hazel eyes which were also open wide. He wore a black suite covered with some dust and wood shavings, as if he had been crawling around, and held a lantern in one hand. Absolutely nothing was said as a very awkward silence joined in with the already very still silence that had been there before. Finally, the man seemed to regain some of his composure as he glared angrily at everyone, though especially Yang.

"What are you doing to my house!?" He cried out as he stomped down the stairs. "Where you also the one who demolished my rooms!?"

"Actually that was me!" Nora admitted cheerfully before Ren could silence her.

That caused the man to turn and also glare at her. "And what the blazes were you doing destroying my rooms so? _How_ did you destroy those rooms so?" He continued to yell and then started to turn around to face everyone. "Just who are you people and what are you doing in my house!?"

"Um…it's kind of a long story…and in all honestly we're not really sure how we got here either…" Yang said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Also, sorry about the painting but, seriously, why do you have pictures like that up?"

The man scoffed. "You're one to talk! By Jove, were all of you ladies raised in a brothel?" He asked before shaking his head. "Or perhaps you are escaped concubines from some Eastern sultan. No, even they wear more clothing that you do. Well, at least the young lady with the hood knows how to cover herself; even if it is with such strange grab and showing her corset."

Ruby blushed, both with embarrassment and anger, while the other girls just glared at the man with varying degrees of hatred.

"How dare you!" Weiss exclaimed as she stomped over to the man. "I'll have you know that were we are from it is completely normal for girls like us to dress this way! Who are you to judge?"

"If you will pardon my crude language, young lady, you are no longer from where ever it is you come from," the man countered. "You are in England now and you should abide by our etiquette; beginning with covering those blasted legs! Honestly, how could someone wear a skirt so short?"

Weiss' face practically turned into a tomato. However, before she could say anything else, Pyrrha interrupted by saying, "Hey…I'm sorry if our clothes offend you, but you must understand that we only just got here…literally…"

The man rounded on the hoplite. "And what could you ever mean by that?" He asked.

"We're…actually not really sure," Jaune said nervously, "we were out on a…hunt, and then we went into a cave and then suddenly…here we are." He then remembered something and quickly said; "Oh, and sorry that I almost ate your roast beef! I didn't actually eat any of it but still-"

"Roast beef?" The man echoed his anger fading and being replaced with confusion. "What

roast beef?"

"Um…the one in the dining room?" Jaune said, now confused himself.

"There was also a table completely set up, as if you are expecting people," Blake added, becoming much more interested in how the man was acting.

"I…am?" The man whispered, before letting a groan of pain as he clutched his head. "I…don't remember. Yes? No? I mean…I think there was supposed to be a feast…but then it got cancelled? No, that's impossible…"

"Um…Sir? Are you feeling alright?" Ruby asked, now feeling sorry for the man who seemed to have so much trouble with his own memories.

"Yes…I am fine…at least I think I am," the man said as he lowered his head, "it's just…there is precious little that I can remember…about this house or recent events…"

"So…you don't know why you cages on your beds?" Ruby asked.

"No."

"Or why the table is all set up?" Weiss asked.

"No."

"What is the first thing you remember?" Pyrrha asked.

"I…was in a room…one of those rooms with the cages on the bed…"

"Do you know why?" Blake asked.

"No."

"Do you even know what you're doing now?" Ren asked.

"Yes…yes that I know!" The man said, suddenly becoming more animated. "I'm looking for my children; Enoch and Edwin."

"What happened to them?" Ruby asked, suddenly very interested as took a few steps closer to him. Yang seemed worried.

"I don't…I don't know…I thought I saw them running through the house and I know that I've heard them..," the man explained.

"Where?" Jaune asked.

"I…I don't know…" the man admitted. "They seem to just be running around…whenever I get close to them again they just go somewhere else."

"What do you mean 'go somewhere else'?" Blake asked confused.

Just then the entire house began to shake and groan. Everyone struggled to stay upright, though Jaune failed, and some of the large paintings in the room fell down; causing Yang to roll to the side and Ruby to disappear into rose petals before one of pictures landed on them. After that the rumbling stopped.

"What was that!?" Weiss asked as she took out Myrtenaster and a few of her comrades took out their weapons.

"I…I don't know…" the man said after the shaking and once again took his head into his hand. "I…I think something's wrong…but I don't know what. I just know that…I have to find them. I have to find Edwin and Enoch."

"Don't worry sir, we'll find them," Ruby declared.

"Sis…are you sure this is a good idea," Yang asked, concern. "I mean…who knows what the hell the…situation, really is."

"But we can't just leave those kids!" Ruby cried out, almost glaring at her sister. "I mean, I bet they're alone and scared and afraid that their dad isn't going to come for them."

"Ruby…" Yang began before the girl turned back to the man.

"It's settled! I'm the leader of Team RWBY and I say we help this man!" The girl in the red hood proclaimed.

"I…don't know what you are speaking about when you mention a team…but I would be most glad for the assistance. Especially with those weapons you have…even if it is a bit uncouth for a child to have such things," the man said before shaking his head. "Regardless…you are going out of your way to help me. My name is Oswald Mandus."

"Well…I really don't want to be separated from you guys…so I guess JNPR is in this too…" Jaune said.

After that introductions were given, though Mandus seemed to have some trouble understanding Yang's name.

"Excuse me, Miss Xiao Long but…you do not look like you are from the far east," the man said.

"The what?" Yang asked, confused.

"Well…it's just that people with name like yours looks like the boy over there," Mandus continue as he pointed to Ren.

"Um…why?" Yang asked, still confused.

"Well…aren't you both from China?" He asked.

"What's a 'china'?" The blonde answered.

"…Never mind, we must continue," Mandus said to a still very confused Yang, and a lesser confused Ren, as he turned to Ruby.

"Yeah…well, since you know the house, maybe you should lead, Mr. Oswald," Ruby suggested, "we'll make sure that nothing bad happens as we follow you."

"I must thank you once again, Ruby Rose and I would be glad to lead as best as I can," Mandus said as he held up his lantern and began to lead the way through the ruined painting room and into the dining room, "also, please, call me Mandus."

As they went through the dining room, everyone looked at the roast beef and then back at Mandus but the man said nothing. He obviously still did not know how or why a roast beef was left out at an empty table that was fully prepared for a meal. As they entered the next hallway, a bell rang out that the Remanences jumped at the sound.

"Okay…what is that?" Jaune asked as the bell continued its shrill ringing.

"That is simply the telephone," Mandus explained, but then frowned. "Though I can't imagine who could be calling right now…"

The older man walked to the phone with a green lit on top of it and, set his lamp down to answer it. After a pause, as if he had been listening to a voice, he asked; "Who are you? Where are my children?" There was more silence as Mandus seemed to be paying close attention…despite the fact that no one could hear a voice on the other end. The students of Beacon looked at each other and Yang seemed to give her sister a particular look, but Ruby quickly looked away and waited for Mandus to be done waiting.

Finally, after a "Where should I go? Hello…hello?", Mandus hung up the phone. There was a bit of an awkward silence before Pyrrha asked; "So… who was it?"

"I…don't know…" the man said with a frown, "but he seemed familiar…like a long lost twin…" He shook his head to clear it. "Regardless…he knows where my children are. It appears that they're trapped in the Machine…"

"The machine?" Weiss asked with a frown.

"Ooh, sound ominous!" Nora said with a wide grin. "So do we have to break it?"

"Um…no," Mandus answered, a bit put off by the enthusiasm she seemed to have, "the machine is already broken…it's been flooded and the only way to get to my children is to get rid of the water and restart of the machine."

"Well…that sounds great and all…but if that's all that needs to happen, why doesn't your friend just do it?" Yang asked.

"I…I don't know…" Mandus repeated.

"You don't seem to know a lot of things…" Blake commented as she crossed her arms. "For instance, who is Jack?"

"Jack?" Mandus said with a frown, "That's a fairly common name around here."

"Yes…but he and his sons seemed to be here and you were going to introduce a Professor A to them?" The fanus continued to press, moving closer to the man.

Seeing the distress this was causing him, Ruby stepped between them and said, "Blake, this isn't the time," the red hooded girl said, "now that we know where the kids are, we just need to find them."

The two stared each other down before Blake finally relented. "Very well... let us continue then…" she said and Mandus was more than happy to lead the way once more. The fanus was able to make eye contact with her partner as she passed and was happy to see the uncertainty in her eyes. Blake put a hand to the folded pieces of paper she had found so far, and knew that something was wrong with this Mandus…she just had to figure out how to convince the others.


End file.
